Heraldry
Heraldry is, according to Sir Anthony Wagner, “the systematic use of hereditary devices centred on the shield.” This means, primarily, what has come to be known as "the coat of arms." While shields were decorated in the classical and early medieval eras, as well as in East Asian cultures, such decorations were either not systematic or not hereditary (or neither). Medieval heraldry (as well as modern heraldry, which is unchanged in substance) follows rules enforced by heraldic officers, and constituted a form of intellectual property that could be passed down from parents to children according to those rules. In 14th century Europe literacy was rare, and so images were how you identified yourself. Heraldic imagery needed to be precise and distinctive, as it functioned much the way that social network profiles, business cards, or even signatures function today. In general, heraldry is “insignia which is distinctive of a person or family” or or even a country (J.P. Brooke-Little, Boutell’s Heraldry Frederick Warne, 1970, p. 163). Definition of Heraldry As noted above, heraldry is “the systematic use of hereditary devices centred on the shield” (Sir Anthony Wagner). Shields have probably been decorated for as long as they have been in use by human warriors. However, not all shield decorations are either systematically regulated or passed down from one individual to their hereditary heirs. For example, the decoration of Greek aspis shields may have been random according to the whim of the owner, or standardized for all members of a city-state's militia (like the Spartan "Lambda" for Lacedaemon). Similarly, the shields borne by William the Conqueror's Norman cavalry and King Harald's shield wall were brightly decorated, but to our knowledge these designs were neither regulated nor tied to individual identification nor passed onto the bearer's descendents. By contrast, therefore, medieval heraldry was 1) a form of individual ''identification, 2) passed on to ''hereditary ''descendants, and 3) ''professionally codified & regulated. In the main, therefore there is no such thing as a "family" coat of arms. Any particular coat of arms indicates the identity of an individual rather than a family, although in many cases there will be strong heraldic similarities between the arms of different family members. In the case of national or corporate (business, civil or other organizational) heraldry, the arms represent an individual in either a symbolic or legal sense. The people of England are identified by the arms of their patron saint, St. George, whereas the government and people of Edmonton, Alberta, can be identified by the arms of the city of Edmonton. But in no wise are 'your' coat of arms discernible by simply typing your last name into an internet database (like this one), which completely undermines the function of heraldry as individual identification and private property. An individual may legitimately display heraldic arms under the following circumstances: First, if the individual inherits the arms from the person of whom they are the legal heir. This is how you might get a coat of arms from a family member, i.e. by tracing your pedigree to an armigerous (heraldically entitled) ancestor. Second, if the individual is granted a coat of arms by an armourial authority. In Canada and other Commonwealth countries, this will be from a group of heralds appointed by the sovereign, like the College of Armsin England or the Canadian Heraldic Authority. Third, if the individual is identifying themself as a follower of a nobleman/noblewoman to whom they bear allegiance, or to another institutional entity like a city or country. In such cases, care must be taken in the display of such arms to distinguish the follower from the person who is being followed. For this reason, badges (see below) may have been more commonly used to indicate who one is a follower of. Heraldic Conflicts The image to the left shows how to bear national arms identifying yourself as a member of the English army. The flag (a banner, specifically) on the soldier's spear bears the arms of St. George. In the context of medieval Northwestern Europe in the 14th century, it would have been known that St. George was one of the patron saints of England (in previous centuries other saints and their arms represented England without St. George). Moreover, because everybody knew that St. George was not a living individual with direct descendants, everybody also knew that by displaying the arms of St. George the individual wasn't claiming to actually be St. George or his individual successor! By contrast, the image to the right shows how not to bear arms identifying yourself as a member of the English army. In a classic television blunder, the soldiers in Edward III's army are shown carrying shields bearing Edward III's personal royal arms. Heraldically speaking, this means that each soldier with that shield was de facto ''claiming to actually be the king of England. The distinction between royal and national insignia is still maintained today in the United Kingdom: the royal arms do not represent the people of the United Kingdom, but rather individual monarch of the United Kingdom (currently the person of Queen Elizabeth II). The people of the United Kindom are represented by their patron saints' flags, either individually (i.e., Scotland's cross of St. Andrew, England's cross of St. George, etc.) or aggregated (the Union Jack). Heraldic conflict, therefore, arises when someone bears arms that indicates that the person bearing them is actually someone else, which would have been the case had English soldiers actually borne the arms of Edward III (which, thankfully, they didn't). It is important to note that St. George was not the exclusive heraldic property of the English either, but was a very popular saint across Europe at this time. Indeed, prior to the 14th century, while St. George was popular with English crusaders, he was still viewed as a "foreign saint." Therefore, the cross of St. George was used to identify many groups in the middle ages who had no connection whatsoever to England, including the people of Florence and monks in southern Germany. Heraldic conflicts were minimized by geographic isolation, however. Remember that without modern forms of travel and communication, the world was much smaller in the middle ages. Florence was unlikely to go to war against England or the Bishopric of Constance, and so the fact that they all used the same heraldry was unilkely to be a problem. Heraldic conflicts did arise more commonly when knights came together for tournament or war. Wars often featured combattants from a number of different countries (e.g., the Battle of Crecy included soldiers from England, Wales, France, Scotland, Flanders, Genoa and Bohemia), and tournaments were frequently an international affair, constituting a "circuit" that knights from many countries would "tour." In such contexts, it could easily happen that one knight from one area of Europe discovered that another knight from another area had the same heraldry. Heraldic officers (such as heralds, pursuivants, and kings of arms) or, in England, the Constable and Marshall, were called upon to resolve such disputes. Courts of heraldry attempted to discern who had the most authoritative claim to the arms. The criteria used to resolve such disputes included the dates of adoption (who used the arms first?) and the rank of the person who granted the arms (e.g., a monarch vs. merely assuming the arms on one's own lower authority). The Use of Heraldry by the Knights of the Northern Realm In 14th century Western Europe, armourial bearings were moving from being simply "assumed" on the authority of the one who bore them, to being granted to individuals by heralds or representatives of the monarch. In this respect, heraldry became increasingly regulated by the powers of the state. However, in all cases coats of arms were adopted by the nobility or those who aspired to it. The common folk would not bear coats of arms as their own individual property, but might bear the badge of their lord and could use other forms of non-written communication, such as makers-marks on the products they crafted or signs above their place of business, that could be considered "heraldic" although not "armourial" in the strict sense. Moreover, the growth of individualism was only beginning to appear in the upper classes, and it's unlikely that lower classes would have even desired individual identification as opposed to that of a group or collective. Therefore, members of the Knights of the Northern Realm will use badges, maker marks, national insignia, and individual coat armour when the persona or role they are portraying requires it. Our members do not ''officially display armourial bearings unless legally entitled to do so. (To my knowledge, no current members have this right in Canada.) Rather, we use historically accurate and personally significant coat of arms as illustrative of the historical period we seek to represent. At our annual tournament, knights, squires, ladies, heralds, and pursuivants will display coats of arms on shields, clothing, and various flags, as well as crests on helmets and badges. Our website lists the members of the club and the arms they sometimes use for these purposes, but such heraldry has no connection to either one's standing in the club or the member's armigerous rights in Canada. Our club currently has no arms of its own. When such designation is required (such as participating in an event with other clubs), we have simply used the arms of St. George. The arms of the municipal borough of Edmonton, England have been decomissioned since 1965, but their modern elements make them unsuitable for use by our club. The Knights of the Northern Realm are indebted to the counsel and advice of Sir George Lucki and Darren George, both members of The Royal Heraldry Society of Canada, who help educate club members on heraldic matters and vet the arms proposed for use in the club. Heraldic Development The question of why heraldry developed cannot be answered by this wiki entry, as it is best left to heraldic experts and historians. In general, the two main reasons given for the development of heraldry were 1) ease of identificaiton in battle, and 2) the rise of individualism in upper-class European society. Battlefield Identification Ever since the advent of massed armies in the Sumerian period (5th to 3rd millennium BC), identification in battle has been important. It is not only important to identify enemies and friends alike, but also to identify units within the battle group and to communicate with those groups so as to execute certain manoeuvres. One hypothesis for the birth of European heraldry was that single-coloured flags were used to denote battle groups, and associated with the leader of each of those groups. When it became necessary to have more battle flags than there were basic colours, parti-coloured flags were introduced and these designs eventually became identification not only for the battle group, but for the division's leader himself. Along these lines, David Crouch argues that regular "knights did not take up individual devices heraldry peculiar to themselves until the early thirteenth century," while magnates did (David Crouch, Tournament 2006, p. 140). In the 14th century, the right to carry a banner (the square heraldic flag, see heraldic display below) into battle and tournament was a mark of rank: the knight banneret, who commanded a large group of troops and lesser knights. These aformentioned flag designs would presumably have been transfered to the shield, surcoat, horse trappings and other surfaces (such as ailettes), and eventually the shield replaced the flag as the primary means of display. Armour tends to obscure the identity of the person wearing it, as it is a comparatively generic form of body covering. It would stand to reason that customized decoration would follow (interestingly, this seems to be what some Clone Troopers did in George Lukas' fictional Star Wars universe). Moreover, as the knightly helmet moved away from the Normam-style spangenhelm with its nasal bar towards the great helm of the 14th century, the face was increasingly obscured (see the image to the left). With the face no longer visible, the need to identify one's friends and enemies by some other means was acute. The Individual It is often difficult for the 21st century Westerner to imagine that individualism is a relatively recent phenomenon, but many cultures, both contemporary and historical, value collective identity over the singular person. One aspect of the rise of individualism in Europe may be reflected in the development of heraldry. For the medieval knight, martial prowess and reputation were the central source of self-worth. This came to be associated with the knights individuality rather than the retinue of which he was a part. The tournament only exacerbated this singularity -- the champion, the hero, the chivalrous knight who fights for his lady's favour -- these elements of tournament pageantry only make sense in terms of the self-as-centre. Moreover, one's authority in battle derived from one's individuality, as did one's claim to noble status and wealth. During this period, in fact, claims to nobility became increasingly based on lineage (biological or legendary), and so the hereditary aspect bonded with the way in which heraldic devices emphasized individuality. Heraldry thus exploded in popularity, as it emphasized the individuality of the nobility who by the necessities of their social order desired such recognition: martial prowess, tournament fame, legal authority, and noble pedigree. Hartmann von Aue (to the right) is an individual par excellence, covered in birds no less! A Short History of Heraldry The earliest hereditary shield decoration belonged to Geoffrey of Anjou (to the left), who was knighted in 1127. The arms he bore became those of his grandson, William Longespée, Earl of Salisbury, and his descendants. By the 13th century, heraldry was so widespread that it was professionally codified and regulated, including precise descriptive vocabulary known as "blazon" (see below). The officers who performed the services of codifying, regulating, and describing heraldry were called "heralds," although the relationship was actually inverted. Heralds are, by definition, those who ''announce ''(think "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" or the Calgary Herald), and so heraldry is whatever heralds do: announce the visual individuality of the knightly classes. The 14th century was the golden age of heraldry, because as armour became increasingly obsolete on the battlefield in the 15th century and afterward, heraldry was less important as a form of individual identification (other than flags, presumably). Therefore, in later centuries heraldry became degenerate, making sense only on paper, but being far too ornate and complex to perform its function as precise battlefield identification (see image to right). Artistic style also changed throughout the middle and modern ages. In strict heraldic terms, style doesn't matter at all. Because the purpose of heraldry (which we have seen to have been undermined by "paper heraldry") is to provide simple and clear visible identification, the style in which an eagle (for example) is drawn is not important -- all that matters is that the eagle must clearly be an eagle. However, because our club re-enacts 14th century medieval history, part of making our presentations as accurate as possible will involve emulating the style of 14th century art in our heraldic displays. At present, this is more of an ideal to aspire to than an actuality achieved by our club. We need to do further research into paint pigments that would have been used in the period, and attempt to either replicate those colours with modern paints or, even better, mix our own (milk paint = pigmented cheese glue?). Similarly, various rolls of arms and other manuscripts can be illustrative of the style we should emulate in the heraldic motifs that we use (stars, boars heads, eagles etc.). Heraldic Display Seals Badges Crests Flags (Knights bachelor rank that dates to the 13th century reign of Henry III rather bore pennons pennants, which were pointed triangular flags, typically affixed to the lance.) Clothing Shields Full Achievements Heraldic Design blah blah Heraldic Blazon